Storm Surge: Special Operations Support to the Hurricane Georges Humanitarian Crisis

Into the third week of the relief operation, the team was given another assignment, to investigate the status of villages of Haitian migrants near the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  Relief organizations working in those areas reported that several villages were extremely hard hit by the storm and that little relief was reaching the beleaguered populations. 

From the 1920s on, Haitian migrants had routinely moved to the Dominican Republic on a seasonal basis to work as sugarcane cutters for state-owned or private companies.  At that time, Haitian migrants were mainly young or middle-aged men. Over time, however, they settled in slums next to sugar plantations called “bateyes,” bringing their Haitian families or marrying and having children in the country with Dominican women. They integrated into Dominican communities, becoming the most numerous minority group in the Dominican Republic. But they were an often unwelcomed and begrudged segment of the society and it became evident that they were not an immediate priority for the government’s relief effort.

A team of three was dispatched to assess the situation. The Commander along with two medics drove to the area, recording instances of damage to major infrastructure along the route. Upon arrival, the team was awe-struck by the devastation in the villages.

The inhabitants were among the poorest of the poor, and it was clear that the hurricane had left them in dire straits. Most of the homes and infrastructure were severely damaged and it was apparent that these villagers had received little, if any, direct support. The situation was dismal, filth and debris littered the villages. Ripe for outbreaks of disease, the villagers had no clean water or adequate sanitation and little food. After several more site surveys, the team had enough evidence to confirm the reports, the Haitian Bateyes desperately needed assistance.

Making their way back to the capital, the team discussed the implications of their report. The Haitian community in the Dominican Republic was an important source of cheap labor and Haitian migrants and their Dominican-born descendants played a crucial role in the Dominican economy. But it was clear that this segment of the population had been woefully ignored by what appeared to be systematic neglect on the part of the government.  Despite the team’s personal convictions regarding what they had witnessed, it was important to remain unbiased and factual.  The team concluded its report to the Embassy staff who said it would address these concerns with their government interlocutors. 

Disaster Relief Joint Task Force (DRJTF) “Full Provider”

At the end of the second week of operations, major relief support was finally on the way. The full resources and capabilities of the Department of Defense were mobilized to assist in a massive relief effort throughout those areas hit by Hurricane Georges. U.S. military assistance focused on Puerto Rico, in support of FEMA, and in the Dominican Republic, in support of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). U.S. military personnel, stationed in Haiti as part of Support Group Haiti, provided limited assistance in that nation. In the eastern Caribbean islands, the U.S. military provided limited, but important support to several island nations.

The DoD asset in greatest demand following Hurricane Georges was air transport, both strategic lift into the area of operations (AO) and theater lift to distribute relief supplies. A major asset employed was a Disaster Relief Joint Task Force (DRJTF), designated JTF Full Provider. JTF Full Provider conducted operations in support of both the Puerto Rico domestic relief operations and foreign disaster assistance to the Dominican Republic. In addition, U.S. military personnel assigned to the Task Force provided management support to disaster operations, including assessment, communications, and logistics expertise, as well as logistics hubs. JTF Full Provider, which included an aviation battalion with heavy-lift helicopter assets, was able to apply substantial supplementary resources to the disaster relief operations.

U.S. military operations responding to Hurricane Georges picked up pace and were managed primarily through the geographic combatant command, SOUTHCOM, in close coordination with other US Government agencies.  SOUTHCOM managed the relief operation consistent with the Federal Response Plan for domestic disaster response operations. In Puerto Rico, Naval Station Roosevelt Roads (NSRR) became the logistics hub for FEMA relief operations throughout the Caribbean. In the Dominican Republic, the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) provided essential support at Santo Domingo airport for the relief effort.

End of Mission

Once JTF Full Provider deployed its rotary-wing assets and support personnel to the Dominican Republic, the mission of the DAST and 160^th was, for all intents and purposes, completed. By then, immediate relief operations had assumed a steady-state and intense efforts began to repair damaged infrastructure.  It would take several months of concerted effort before the country regained its footing and a semblance of normalcy.

On its final day in country, the Special Forces team members bid farewell to the 160^th aircrews and the SOCSOUTH personnel, who then self-deployed back to Panama.  By then, routine commercial flights had resumed to Santo Domingo and the Special Forces team members packed their team gear and returned to Fort Bragg via commercial air. 

The mission was deemed an overwhelming success, thanks to the superb work of the SOF personnel that made up the team.  Hundreds of thousands of relief supplies were delivered in the critical first days after the disaster.  Without those supplies, untold numbers would have suffered the threat of starvation and disease.  The success of the mission was a testament to the unique skills and capabilities of those Special Operators, who demonstrated their ability to respond to a crisis, “anytime, anyplace, anywhere.”

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This first appeared in The Havok Journal on February 24, 2021.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.

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